Don't worry, be happy!

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own."

             -Jesus (Matthew 6:34)

I feel like one of the major themes of this blog, so I guess of my life, is that things work out and God always has a plan.  I truly do believe this and try to live my life accordingly.  Some people might say that I live too much in today and do not plan well enough for the future, but I would answer back saying the future has never gone as I planned so I would just be wasting time planning it.  Kyle and I do set short term and long term goals, but we try not to map out the next thirty years of our lives.  Going with the flow, God's flow, has always worked best for me/us. 

This last Sunday I got to teach Youth Group while Mike was gone camping.  I honestly had no clue what I was going to teach on, so that morning (I know, I'm a slacker!) I opened my Bible to Matthew 6.  Matthew 5-7 tends to really catch my eye when I am browsing the Bible because the text is all solid RED!  In my Bible, red print means it is Jesus talking.  Most parts of the Gospels are intermixed red and black because Jesus is interacting with other people and is not talking the entire time.  There are only a few times when Jesus "preaches".  These chapters in Matthew are called the Sermon on the Mount, but I really view it as Jesus going off!  He talks about so many different things and really seems to just be getting everything off his chest.  It reminds me of getting in 'trouble' as a teenager.  My parents would sit me down and start talking about one thing and then all of a sudden I'm getting lectured on cleaning my room, not making fun of my brother, watching less TV, and driving safe all in one sitting. 

The part of Jesus' venting that I chose to teach youth group about was Matthew 6:25-34.  This is titled in my Bible 'Do Not Worry'.  Our youth group is full of studious teens who seriously stress about their future and grades and college.  I can't really relate to them because grades came easy to me, I killed the SAT's and I went to community college by choice.  They all put me to shame in the 'ambitious as a teenager department'.  But, because of this, I though a lesson on worry would be great - and it was!  They all were quick to discuss the things they stress about, why they stress, what to do when they stress (Phil 4:6-7) and then how God has promised to work out their future (Jeremiah 29:11).  It was altogether a great Sunday and a great discussion time. 



Most of our great Youth.  Picture taken at Winter Retreat 2012

After that lesson, I could not get the verse that I wrote at the beginning of this blog out of my head.  I honestly am not sure if I had ever really heard it before.  What really stuck out to me is how validating it is.  The fact that Jesus, in the same sermon where He sets these standards for us that seem impossible to live by, He also says 'Hey, I know its hard!' ("Each day has enough trouble of its own").  Jesus really does recognize that life is hard and we face things to worry about, but He is saying go against what is normal and trust Him.  God continually encourages us throughout the Bible to trust in Him daily.  Not weekly.  Not monthly.  Not yearly.  Daily!  Today truly does have enough trouble of its own that we don't need to be borrowing the trouble from tomorrow.  God only takes care of us today, tomorrow He will do the same when it becomes today - and the next and the next, but not until they become today. 

In a world where the future seems a little bleak - it is comforting to take things day by day.  No, this is not an excuse to be lazy and not work and say God will work it out (Matthew 25:14-30) But it is an excuse to not have all the answers for what lies ahead and it is an excuse to be OK with only seeing a bit of God's plan at a time.

My friend, Ginger, told me a really great analogy one evening at our growth group.  She said she was sitting outside and looking up at the stars and could only see a few.  She thought wow, this is exactly how God shows us our future.  She knew that if she was up in Tahoe and looking at the same sky there would be hundreds of stars in any direction.  But right now she could not see them... does that mean they aren't there?  Absolutely not, Ginger knew that the stars are there but are just not visible to her because she is in the city.  So, whenever you can't see very far into your future, remember that it is there, God just isn't ready to show it to you.  Or maybe, there are too many other 'lights' around that hinder your view of the plan God has for you. 

I really did not sit down to write a blog about this, but it just came out.  My original plan was to write a blog about cleaning out my parent's garage.  But maybe I'll share about that joyous occasion later.  In the meantime, I'm going to work on enjoying each day and not stressing about the next.  God Bless!